The standard system from V20 (1 point merit per language) will continue to determine the number of languages that a character enters play with. Gaining more languages in game does not require additional xp to be spent. Instead, learning a new language is an extended Intelligence + Academics (with an applicable Specialty of Linguistics) roll based on the number of downtime actions spent. Making a roll requires a minimum of 2 downtime actions to be spent, with each additional action spent in the same week granting an additional die to the roll.

The source of the language being learned and other related languages set the difficulty of this roll. Languages can be learned from either a teacher who already speaks the language in question or from an impersonal source such as books or computer programs. If learning from a teacher, the base difficulty of the roll is 6. If learning from books or other impersonal sources the base difficulty is 8. If learning a language from another PC, any week that the character makes a roll towards the process of learning the language requires that the teacher also spend a minimum of one downtime action in active instruction.

If the language is related to the character's native language, there is no increase in difficulty. If the character knows another language that is not his native language, the roll is at +1 difficulty. If the character knows no languages related to the language being learned, the roll is at +3 difficulty. Language relations are always at the discretion of the ST.

The checks for this roll are made weekly, in any week that the character has spent a minimum of 2 downtime actions actively studying, accumulating successes until the necessary 20 are acquired. A failure on any of these rolls means that the character has made a misstep in the learning process, learning some bad habits that must be unlearned, increasing the difficulty of all future rolls by 1. A botch on any of these rolls means that the character has learned something completely wrong, raising the difficulty by 2 on all subsequent rolls unless the character chooses to abandon the effort and start again from scratch.